Cincinnati Radio Winners and Losers

Winter quarter Arbitron ratings (Jan.-March) came out today with several surprises.

--The Sound: "The Sound" (WSDW-FM, 94.9), was a strong #2 for men ages 18-34, second to WEBN-FM. It was #3 for all listeners ages 18-34 (behind KISS and 'EBN). It's operated by Bonneville, which is buying the old CBS/Entercom cluster of WKRQ-FM (Q102) and country WUBE-FM (B105.1) . "The Sound" has more than doubled the audience that CBS had a year ago for rocker WAQZ-FM on 97.3. The strong debut for the mix of AAA/new & '90s alternative rock/Top 40/Hot AC -- surprised me given all the carping about lousy Cincinnati radio by readers of this blog.

--SupertalkFM96.5: Many have been asking how Andy Furman is doing on SupertalkFM96.5, and now we know: Not so super as I had expected. Furman's afternoon show on Cumulus' WFTK-FM was #18 overall, while Lance McAlister's sports talk on WCKY-AM (HOMER 1530) was No. 13. He was also beaten by Dayton country station WHKO-FM, and Christian WAKW-FM. Overall, the station was tied at #19 with the BUZZ (WDBZ-AM), while HOMER landed at #17. Furman and GM Karrie Sudbrack, hired away from Clear Channel in February, say they're pleased with the first full ratings book for the talk format new to the FM dial. Furman also says more definitive ratings come out Friday, for his exact 4-7 time period. What was released Thursday was for Arbitron's afternoon block of 3-7 p.m.

"Supertalk is brand new. People are just beginning to find us now. We almost beat WCKY in our first book. I'll take that," says TJ Holland, operations director.
Sudbrack says she's "definitely exploring putting on more local shows" on Supertalk.

At 7 p.m. Sunday, the weekly "City Talk" urban issues show with Michael Sweeney and Tom Schaefer, moves to Supertalk from WSAI-AM. Councilman Chris Bortz will talk about the Banks project.

--WGRR: The trade for WGRR-FM from Entercom/CBS has paid off for Cumulus. Under Keith Mitchell (formerly MOJO), the station jumped to #3 overall. The station now plays mostly classic hits from the '70s, '80s and '90s. "We've made some subtle changes, and it's done well," Holland says. (Have some of the old MOJO listeners tuned in WGRR?)
Longtime DJ Jim LaBarbara, who was fired in March, was #4 afternoons on WGRR-FM for all listeners, behind WLW's Gary Burbank, WUBE's Duke Hamilton and WEBN's Jay Gilbert. Mitchell replaced him last month in a budget moved ordered by corporate.

--WKRC: After Jerry Thomas retired in December, after 44 years on the station, ratings went up. The station jumped to #8 from #10 in fall. The new morning show -- with Jerry's kid, Brian, and John Philips -- was #9 in the 25-54 demo advertisers want, up from #14 in fall.

--MOJO: MOJO cooled off, after a fall debut at #9 on the new frequency (100.3) with a new owner (Radio One). WMOJ-FM fell to #11, behind #10 sister station WIZ.

--WOLF: The move of country WYGY-FM cost the station more than half of its audience, compared to a year ago. Bonneville's WOLF 97.3 draw a 1.5 share of the audience, compared to a 3.7 share as STAR 96.5. The WOLF signal is not as powerful as the old Cumulus station. But Bonneville now owns both, so it can protect B105 from losing too much to a second country station. And with some listeners uphappy about WOLF dumping Ken & Kitty, we'll see which way ratings go for the spring quarter.

--WLW-AM: No surprise. Still #1 with all listeners and 25-54.
--WUBE-FM: No surprise. Still #2 with all listeners and 25-54.
--WEBN-FM: No surprise. #1 with men 18-34, #2 (to KISS) for all 18-34, #3 25-54.
--WOFX-FM: "Bob & Tom" still kick butt. #1 morning show 25-54 & 18-34, and #2 with all listeners (age 12 and older).

Rankings for all listeners (age 12 and up) and audience share for winter quarter (Jan-March):
1. WLW-AM, 9.7
2. WUBE-FM, 6.2
3. WGRR-FM, 6.1
4. WEBN-FM, 5.7
5. WRRM-FM, 5.2
6. WKFS-FM, 5.1
7. WOFX-FM, 4.7
8. WKRC-AM, 4.5
9. WIZF-FM, 4.4
10. WKRQ-FM, 4.3
11. WMOJ-FM, 4.2
12. WSWD-FM, 3.9
13. WVXM-FM, 1.9
14. WAKW-FM, 1.7
15. WYGY-FM, 1.5
16. WHOK-FM, 1.3
17. (tie) WPFB-FM, WCKY-AM, 1.2
19. (tie) WDBZ-AM, WFTK-FM, 1.1
21. (tie) WTUE-FM, WOXY-FM, 0.9
23. (tie) WMMX-FM, WLQT-FM, 0.8
25. (tie) WSCH-FM, WDJO-AM, WGTZ-FM, 0.7

Top 10 for 25-54 demo
1. WLW-AM, 7.9
2. WUBE-FM, 7.1
3. WEBN-FM, 6.9
4. WOXF-FM, 7.6
5. WGRR-FM, 5.8
6. WRRM-FM, 5.3
7. WKRQ-FM, 5.1
8. WSDW-FM, 4.8
9. WMOJ-FM, 3.7
10. WKSF-FM, 3.6.